A developmental study of the relation between combined learning and performance goals and students' self-regulated learning

Background. Current goal theory models assume that learning goals are adaptive in academic contexts and that performance goals lead to less positive patterns of motivation and self-regulation. These models also implicitly assume that the adaptive nature of these goals is the same at all academic levels. Aims. The objectives of this study were to examine how combined learning and performance goals are related to self-regulation and academic performance, and whether there is a developmental trend in these relations. Sample. A total of 1072 junior (N = 408, mean age = 11.9), middle (N = 323, mean age = 13.7), and senior (N = 341, mean age = 15.7) high school students were examined. Method. They were administered a questionnaire assessing their learning and performance goals and reported their self-regulatory strategies while studying. Results. Analyses showed that whatever their performance goals, having high learning goals promoted younger students' self-regulation. They also showed that, contrary to the findings for younger students, performance goals were related to self-regulation and academic performance at higher school levels. Furthermore, high performance goals were found to alleviate the negative effects of low learning goals for older students. Conclusions. These findings suggest that the adaptive nature of goals could change across development. This could be due to contextual factors such as the increasing importance of obtaining good grades to access higher academic levels. Future research should address this issue.